8 October 2012. A Picture IS Worth a Thousand Words… THIS is What the REAL Church Thinks About Socialism

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I’ve been reliably informed that Fathausen, Potapov, and all of their loud claque are making noises about how the Church approves of the Republican Party platform. That’s a load of unmitigated and utter bullshit. Take a GOOD look at this picture. HH HASN’T changed his mind. Therefore, you can believe Fathausen and Potapov or you can stand with HH. Make mine HH; straight-up, and no mixer, please…

BMD

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Patriarch of Moscow and Metropolitan of all America Served Great Blessing of Water at Epiphany Cathedral

As of 07.45 EST (15.45 MSK, 12.45 UTC, 04.45 PST) this was the ONLY image online at the MP website… JP’s not in the picture, and it’s not high res. Truly, no one needs “publicity” like this… looks like Fathausen’s got the cardboard box…

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On Wednesday, on Orthodox Epiphany, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias and visiting Metropolitan Jonas Paffhausen of all America and Canada served Divine Liturgy and the rite of the Great Blessing of Water at Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow. More than a thousand people attended services at the church, which celebrates its patronal feast today, even though it was a normal working weekday. Believers brought bottles to bring home some of the holy water blessed by His Holiness. Patriarch Kirill greeted the congregation gathered for the holyday, and reminded them that holy water should be drew in silence and in prayer, because “sacraments can lead to our conviction and condemnation, rather than the healing of soul and body, so be mindful of this when you draw your holy water”. His Holiness urged the faithful, to pray as their waited their turn to collect their holy water. He asked them to pray for themselves, their families, children, and grandchildren, “to pray for the spiritual and physical health of our country, for our people, and for the Christ’s Church, so that the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit shall allow us to reject the ungodliness and worldly lust that we see in contemporary society”. After the service, for the holy water distribution, believers queued up outside the church in a line that stretched from the doors of the cathedral unto the street for tens of metres.

19 January 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=39153

Editor’s Note:

Here’s the first notice of JP in the secular press. He’s named… that’s all. I checked the cathedral’s website, there’s an active parish there, so, most of the crowd was there for the patronal feastday celebrations (leads one to believe that Fathausen’s not very popular at the Centre). Not much, is it? I’ve given you what I could find. I’ll look to see if there’s anything else on the usual sites… don’t hold your breath. The sort of publicity that Fathausen’s gotten so far is worse than no publicity at all. His Nibs has treated him like a lowly suppliant… and JP has to smile and say, “Thank you, sir; may I please have another”. Keep the jug at hand… the day’s not over yet.

BMD

Vechnaya Pamyat Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin!

Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (1938-2010), former RF Prime Minister (1992-98), Ambassador to the Ukraine (2001-09)

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Хотели как лучше, а получилось как всегда.

We wanted the best, but it turned out as it always does.

Viktor Chernomyrdin

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He did the right thing at the right time…

Aleksandr Boroda, the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR), expressed condolences on the part of Jewish citizens of Russia to the sons of former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, on his passing. “Your father earned a special place in the memory of all Russian citizens, of all nationalities and faiths, as one of the first independent politicians of a free Russia, who was one of the pioneers in founding a civil society in our country”, according to the message of condolences issued by the press service of the FEOR. Mr Boroda went on to point up that the Jewish community in Russia always felt a sense of gratitude to Viktor Stepanovich, saying, “We will not forget how he has consistently fought for the preservation of the historical uniqueness of Russia as a multiethnic and multi-religious state, to create the conditions necessary for real religious freedom”. Moreover, he noted that Mr Chernomyrdin, throughout his public and political career, “strongly opposed chauvinism and xenophobia”, realising that “the only possible way to build a truly free society in Russia was to defeat such deleterious tendencies. The memory of Viktor Stepanovich as a strong and caring person remains in my heart and in the hearts of all Russian Jews”.

Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias thought that the greatest contribution that Viktor Chernomyrdin made as Prime Minister was that he guided the Russian Federation intact through the cataclysmic events of the 1990s. “Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin became a leader at the highest levels of Russian political life at a most difficult time, when it was open to question as to whether we would be able to sustain the unity of our country”, His Holiness said Wednesday in an interview with reporters. He recalled that his acquaintance with Viktor Stepanovich deepened in the dramatic days of “blood-stained ‘93”. He said, “By virtue of being prime minister, he enabled me to be in direct contact with the authorities and with other political forces in Russia at that time, as I was doing my part to avert civil conflict. In Viktor Stepanovich, I saw a man who deeply felt the tragedy that engulfed Russia. There was no money in the country, all our economic regulators had collapsed; in these circumstances, the management of the Russian financial system was incredibly difficult. What role Viktor Stepanovich played, different people evaluate in their own ways, but I believe that the fact that Russia even exists, despite the cataclysmic events of the nineties… that was his greatest contribution”.

According to the patriarch’s press service, in later years, he had the chance to talk with Mr Chernomyrdin on problems such as the consequences of the NATO aggression against Serbia, and “diplomatic relations concerning the Ukraine”. “I must say that he was a patriot but he was a man who, at the same time, was open to and able to talk to people who didn’t share his views, he seemed to be empathetic with everybody, even though he seemed to speak a language all his own. Already, some of his colourful expressions have entered into our colloquial culture”, His Holiness added. “Just yesterday, I sent a blessing for him with a man who was going to visit Viktor Stepanovich; but, today, we will pray for him, we will ask the Lord to forgive his sins and take him into His Heavenly Kingdom. There is no such thing as an irreplaceable man, but God often sends those who meet the needs of the time. I think that new times demand people of a different bent, and the part that Viktor Stepanovich played in history is that he did the right thing at the right time”, Patriarch Kirill concluded.

The ceremonies in connection with the death of former RF Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin will be held in Moscow on 4-5 November. From 16.00 MSK 4 November to 09.45 MSK 5 November, Viktor Stepanovich will lie in state at the Reception Hall on Sparrow Hills (42 Kosygin Street). At 10.00 MSK 5 November, there will be a civil funeral with the participation of government officials and leading figures from social, political, and cultural circles, the RF Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The funeral service for Viktor Chernomyrdin will begin in the Assumption Church in Novodevichy Monastery at 11.00 MSK 5 November, and the burial will be at 12.00 MSK at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

3 November 2010

Interfax–Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=38059

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=38065

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=38072

Editor’s Note:

Russia has recovered from the pandemonium of the unnecessary chaos imposed by the privatisation crisis of the early ‘90s. There are two legacies of that period amongst the Russian people. Firstly, now, Russians hate Americans for insisting on the whirlwind change to a market economy. If you were to ask most Russians, they would prefer a less capitalist system. That leads to the second point. Russian people have a saying, “We knew that the communists were lying to us about communism, but we didn’t know that they were telling us the truth about capitalism”. Russian people want no part of Tea Party-style lunacy… they have seen the true face of entrepreneurial capitalism (and have felt the bite of its merciless teeth).

Viktor Stepanovich kept Russia together at a time when the USA was waging economic war on Russia (and invading the rodina with nasty Sectarian “missionaries”); he kept the state intact. For that, he deserves praise from every Russian patriot. He DESERVES a state funeral… and when the photos become available, they’re going up. This man is WORTHY of praise… for had the wrong man been at the helm, the American plan to dismember the homeland would have borne fruit… and American consumerist godlessness would be afoot in the land today. Thank God, that didn’t happen. Yes… Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin was one of those who held back the American hedonist interlopers.

THANK YOU!

Вечная ему Память!

BMD

Fidel Castro Ruz on the Russian Orthodox Church

This is why the USA hates Fidel so… he’s immensely popular still… and he’s kept the US multinationals out (that’s his real sin).

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It’s a spiritual force, and in the critical moments of Russian history, it played an important role. When the Great Russian War began after the treacherous Nazi attack, Stalin turned to it, to support the workers’ and peasants’ state that the October Revolution made the owners of the factories and the land. When the USSR disintegrated, imperialism didn’t have an ally in that Church. For that reason, when His Eminence Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, visited our country in 2004, I proposed to him to build a cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church as a monument to Cuban-Russian friendship. City Historian Eusebio Leal assumed responsibility for the completion of the task. We placed soil from the burial places of Soviet soldiers who died in our country during their service here. For that reason, when the Cathedral was inaugurated last Sunday, I felt a desire to talk with the esteemed figure from the Russian Orthodox Church who was visiting us.

Tomorrow, Thursday, he’ll be in Venezuela conversing with President Chávez. Both are inspired by the same ethical principles emanating from Christ’s preaching according to the Evangelists, a religious belief that the two share. Then, he’s to visit Ecuador to talk with Correa, a political leader educated in Liberation Theology. His Eminence isn’t an enemy of socialism, nor does he condemn to eternal fire those of us who utilised Marxism-Leninism to fight for a just world. When he talks in the UN Human Rights Council or other institutions, he’s listened to with much respect. In his immense country, he talks regularly on television, for 15 minutes every Saturday, and is followed with interest by tens of millions of people.

Our capital’s enriched with a temple worthy of the prestigious Russian Orthodox Church, which is unimpeachable evidence of the respect of our Revolution for one of the fundamental principles of human rights, in consonance with a profound and radical socialist revolution. There’s no reason whatsoever to make the slightest concession to Yankee imperialism. I have the impression that His Eminence thinks that way. He isn’t anti-Muslim; he respects that religion. Within his ecumenical conception, he believes that the Catholic Church can solve its problems with countries such as China and Vietnam.

It was most agreeable and edifying talking with him.

21 October 2008

Fidel Castro Ruz

Granma International

As quoted in Axis of Logic

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_28765.shtml

Editor’s Note:

Many Orthodox, mostly konvertsy, but some grounded ethnic people as well, have been bamboozled by the Tea Party. The Tea Party’s unabashed worship of Almighty Mammon and its adulation of American Sectarianism make it unacceptable for any conscious Orthodox Christian to support it. No… I won’t lie to you… Orthodox people in the USA don’t have any “good” choice this year. We can only choose the “lesser of two evils”.

Most Orthodox are fooled by the anti-abortion stance of the Tea Party, and all too many think that its acrid and noisome anti-gay propaganda is in harmony with the Church’s teaching. Firstly, abortion’s a moral issue… not a legal one. We can’t solve it by hauling abortionists or pregnant women off to gaol. Whether we like it or not, it’s not just a matter of making an action illegal… it would just drive it underground. It’s like “illegal drugs”… if we “legalised” them, most people wouldn’t go out and use them, that’s for sure. The so-called “War on Drugs” (like the so-called “War on Terror”) is an abject failure… are we going to add a “War on Abortion?” God willing, we won’t. Abortion’s a moral evil… we must fight it… but to make abortion a crime won’t stop it.

Secondly, the ethos of the Tea Party is anti-Christian. It’s Sectarian to the core, and, as a Russian priest wrote to me once, “Sectarianism is Satan’s simulacrum of the Church”. On Monday, Nicky and I were visiting family (they were up in Cooperstown, so, we went to visit them), and I was discussing this issue with a family friend. Her point of view was concise and to the point. “They want to impose Evangelicalism on all of us”. That’s the precise reason why so many Americans have rejected these poseurs. Most of the teabaggers are fanatical and extreme Sectarians, bent on ramming their beliefs down everyone’s throats with the full force of the state. That’s why Orthodox Christians can’t have anything to do with these pseudo-Christians… they want to suck out all the content from our Faith and replace it with vacuous “Evangelical” goo.

That’s why we should vote for Secularists this election… they won’t interfere with the inner life of the Church. The Tea Party would, and leave us as nothing but “Evangelicals” with a very thin Orthodox veneer. You can see this amongst all too many konvertsy today. Do you want that throughout the Church? I didn’t think so. The Church can deal with Fidel Castro Ruz, Mikhail Gorbachyov, Gennady Zyuganov, and Pyotr Simonenko. It can’t have anything to do with the likes of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Joe Miller, or Rush Limbaugh.

Don’t forget, in the nasty nineties, the commies in Russia and the Ukraine stood tall for the Church and defended it against Sectarian assaults. The Tea Party approves of the Sectarians, therefore, it approves of such assaults and proselytising. The commies kissed the bishop’s hand and asked for his blessing… the Sectarians attacked the very basis of the Church. You can stand with one or the other. I know where I stand… what about you?

BMD